As you may already know, Saddam Hussein is being tried for the 1982 massacre of 143 people in Shi’ite Dujail after a failed assassination attempt — not for much larger crimes committed during the Iran-Iraq war (including against Kurdish civilians at Halabja) or during the invasion of Kuwait, but for a relatively small reprisal following an assassination attempt. (“Relatively small” compared both to Saddam’s other crimes and to the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have died to avenge an alleged assassination attempt against George H.W. Bush in 1993.) And Saddam may never stand trial for anything else:
- There will be no jury. The chief judge will question witnesses, and all five judges will decide the guilt or innocence of Saddam and his seven co-defendants. The judges will be permitted to draw help from international advisers.
Saddam will sit with his co-defendants, probably behind protective glass. He will have the right to call witnesses and, if convicted, to lodge numerous appeals before any sentence could be carried out. Each defendant will have at least one lawyer.
If convicted, Saddam can appeal to a nine-judge tribunal that is part of the special Iraqi tribunal set up to investigate crimes allegedly committed by Saddam and others during his 23-year rule.
If the sentence is upheld after all appeals are exhausted, then it must be implemented within 30 days, regardless of other judicial proceedings. If Saddam should be sentenced to death, that means he could be executed while some of the dozen or so trials he is expected to face go unfinished.
This quite obviously being the reason.